


Phantasmal Killer

by talefeathers



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Fear, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Leaning on the Fourth Wall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 15:10:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14451912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talefeathers/pseuds/talefeathers
Summary: Magnus is now considered frightened.





	Phantasmal Killer

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Magnus + "Things you said when you were scared."

_You are now considered frightened._

“No –”

_You have disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls while the source of your fear is within your line of sight –_

“No, no, no –”

_– and you cannot willingly move closer to it._

A chill steals over Magnus’s body as something dark and shivering manifests before him, some nameless fear wreathed in static. He backs himself into a nearby tree, holding Railsplitter out in front of him like a ward, shuddering from his head down to his boots.

“No. No. No.”

He hears Merle call out to him as if from a great distance, but he cannot turn toward the sound. He realizes that he can’t even see the thing approaching him, not really – his mind seems unable to seize on any part of the hissing, writhing blur for long. All he knows, with nightmare surety, is that it is the end. Not just the end for him – that much wouldn’t have frightened him. The end of his friends. The end of Faerûn.

The end of the world.

“I can’t, I, I, I –”

He squeezes his eyes shut and presses the wooden haft of his axe to his forehead. He sees the circle of black glass that was Phandalin, the ruin of charred rubble that was Raven’s Roost. He sees the cherry blossom tree that was Hurley and Sloane. He sees Julia, over and over.

“I can’t protect them,” he whispers. “I never could.”

“I cast Dispel Magic.”

Taako’s voice snaps through the staticky roar, and Magnus’s ears ring in the sudden silence that follows. He blinks his eyes open and, after a moment’s hesitation, he cautiously lifts his head.

“You okay, man?” Taako is standing in front of him, brows knit in the closest thing to concern Magnus has yet seen him muster. “You failed your wisdom save. Fool got you with a little number called Phantasmal Killer, which can’t have been no party.”

“Yeah, do you need any healing?” Merle asks. He is standing beside Taako, flipping through the Extreme Teen Bible with his own brow furrowed in something a bit closer to confusion.

“N-no, I’m. I’m okay,” Magnus says.

“Good, ‘cause zippity-doo-da over here was just gonna cast Zone of Truth,” Taako yawns before turning on his heel to loot the enemy sorcerer’s body.

“Aw, eat my shorts, ya big jerk,” Merle calls after him as he follows suit.

A little grin floats onto Magnus’s face, but he stays where he is for a moment, leaning up against the tree he had backed himself into. He looks down at the weapon in his hands.

“I am stronger than this,” he tells himself. “I can protect them.”

He looks up to watch Taako and Merle argue over a Ring of Spell Storing.

“And I will.”


End file.
